Wind direction indicator

ABSTRACT

A flexible cloth strip having adhesive tape extending from a first end of said strip approximately one half of the length of the strip, which tape holds against the strip a plastic monofilament bristle which extends from a first intermediate point on the strip partway toward the second end of the strip; said tape having fiberglas strands extending the length of the tape along the length of the strip; said strip being split longitudinally at said first end to form two ties with reinforced tape on each of said two ties. Said indicator also including a flat anchor member having a first hole at one point through which the ties are extended and then brought back around the strip and tied to secure thereby the strip to the anchor member, which anchor member has a split ring at a second point through which may be received a stay.

EJnEted States Patent n91 Keim [ WIND DIRECTION INDICATOR [76] Inventor:Melville Keim, 933 Via Lido Soud,

Newport Beach, Calif. 92660 [22] Filed: Mar. 30, 1972 [21] Appl. No.:239,686

[52] US. Cl. 73/188, 116/173 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Publication: The AshleyBook of Knots by Clifford W. Ashley.

[ 1 June 11, 1974 Primary ExaminerLouis J. Capozi 57 ABSTRACT A flexiblecloth strip having adhesive tape extending from a first end of saidstrip approximately one half of the length of the strip, which tapeholds against the strip a plastic monofilament bristle which extendsfrom a first intermediate point on the strip partway toward the secondend of the strip; said tape having fiberglas strands extending thelength of the tape along the length of the strip; said strip being splitlongitudinally at said first end to form two ties with reinforced tapeon each of said two ties. Said indicator also including a flat anchormember having a first hole at one point through which the ties areextended and then brought back around the strip and tied to securethereby the strip to the anchor member, which anchor member has a splitring at a second point through which may be received a stay.

7 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures WIND DIRECTION INDICATOR BACKGROUND OFINVENTION the wind direction and velocity. Those tails have had.

the problem that they become tangled with the stay and cannot performtheir function.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION One aspect of the present invention is theprovision of stiffener means extending'from the point that the tail isconnected to the swingable anchor member. And, the tail is connected tothe anchor member so that the stiffener means holds the tail away fromthe stay to which the device is swingably connected by the anchormember.

Another aspect of the present invention is that the stiffener meansincludes adhesive tape having fiberglas strands which can be quickly.applied to the tail in order to hold a bristle, preferably a piece ofplastic monofilament material, to the tail at an intermediate positionof the length of thetail. The tape extends fromthat intermediateposition to a first end of the tail. Then, the tail is split from thefirst end of the tail to the point of the bristle-thus providing twotieseach of which is strengthened by fiberglas reinforced tape.

Another aspect of the present invention is that the tail can be quicklyconnected to theanchormember by merely extending the ties through a holein the anchor member and then bringing the ties back around the body ofthe tail where the ties are tied together. Of particular importance isthe fact that this arrangement of securing holds ag'ainsta face of theanchor member a portion of the tail which is reinforced by the bristle.Thereby, the tail will extend parallel to that faceofthe anchor member.And, by providing that such face extends at a right angle to a hole onthe anchor member through which the stay is received, the tail willextend away from the stay at a right angle thereto.

A further aspect of the present invention is the fact that'it provides along-lived product which can be produced at a very low cost and quicklyinstalled.

' With the foregoing in mind, it is a major object of this invention toprovide an improved wind indicator.

Another object of this invention is to provide a wind indicator which isparticularly adapted to the stay of a sailboat and tends to avoidtangling with the stay.

A further object of this invention is to provide a rugged, low cost windindicator for use with sailboats.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a low cost windindicator for sailboats which can. be quickly installed without anysignificant skill.

Other and furtherobjects of this invention will become apparent in thedetailed description below in connection with the attached drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

' the anchor member;

FIG. 6 is a full plan view of the tail after it is connected to theanchor member; and,

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the tail taken along line7-7 in FIG. 6.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a portion of a boat stay10 to which a preferred embodiment of the present invention isconnected. As will be described in further detail below, the windindicator includes an anchor member 11 to which is connected a tail,indicated generally by the arrow 12. Before going on with the detaileddescription of the wind indicator, the preferred manner of supportingthe wind indicator at the desired position on the stay l0 should bedescribed.

At the selected heighth, a piece of adhesive tape 14 is wrapped aroundthe stay (preferably about eight times) to form a support shoulder forsplit Washer 15. Then, the anchor member 11 rests on top of the washer15 and may rotate around the stay 10.

Preferably, the anchor member is made in a plane having a first face 16and a second fact 17 each extending parallel to the plane. The anchormember 11, preferably further includes a first hole 18 at a first pointon the anchor member for use in securing thereto the tail 12 as will bedescribed in further detail below.'At a sec ond point on the anchormember ll, there is provided a larger hole 19 through which is looselyreceived the stay 10. As can be seen, the provision of a split 20 in theanchor member. ll enables a person to swingably connect the anchormember to the stay 10 at a midportion thereof without the necessity ofthreading the stay through the hole 19. 1

The main portion of the tail 12 is a relatively long flexible strip 22.Preferably, the strip 22 is made of a cloth material such as, e.g.,dacron; however, even plastic sheet material would work. Also, it ispreferred that the strip 22 be approximately 10 inches long with a widthof approximately one-half inch. As can be seen in FIGS. 3 and 6, thestrip 22 has a first end .23 and a second end 24. Further, there can beseen how a piece of fiberglas reinforced adhesive tape has been adheredto one face of the strip .22 and extends from the first end 23 towardthe second end 24 approximately onehalf of the length of the strip 22.As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 7, there is provided a plastic monofilamentbristle 27 extending lengthwise of the strip 22. The bristle 27furnishes stiffener means for. holding the tail 22 away from the stay 10as will be described further below.

Preferably, the bristle 27 is made of polyethylene or polyvinyl plasticrod approximately 0.032 inches in diameter. Such material will furnishsufficient rigidity.

As best seen in FIG. 3, the strip 22 is split from the first end 23 to afirst intermediate point 29 to form first and second tie portions 30 and31, respectively. It will I be noted that the split in the strip 22 hasbeen located simple knot 32.

so that one half of the tape 25 is on each of the tie portions 30 and31. Therefore, the fiberglas strands in the tape will give greatstrength to each tie portion. Preferably, the split in the strip 22 doesnot extend all of the way to thebristle 27. This will assist the tape 26in holding the bristle 27 against longitudinal movement.

Of particular importance is the manner in which the tail 12 can berapidly secured to the anchor member 11. The two tie portions 30 and 31are threaded through the hole 18 from the first face 16 to the secondface 17. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the two tie portions 30 and 31 arebrought laterally away from each other. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, thetwo tie portions 30 and 31 are brought back up around the anchor member11 and the strip 22 and wrapped around each other to form the first halfof a simple knot 32. Then, as seen in FIG. 6, the two tieportions 30 and31 are wrapped around each other again to form the second half of the Itis particularly important to note how this above are rangernent resultsin the bristle 27 holding the tail 12 directlyaway from the stay at aright angle thereto. This is because the bristle 27 is held against theupper face 16 of the anchor member 11, and therefore,- ex- .tendsparallel-thereto. Since the face 16 extends at a g by way'ofillustration only and numerous changes may be made thereto withoutdeparting from the spirit of the present invention. Accordingly, theinvention should be limited solely by the scope of the appended claims.

'1 claim: Y 1. An improved wind direction indicator particularly adaptedforv a stay on a boat comprising:

an anchor member, said anchor member having at a first point thereon ahole extending therethrough from one face of the member to another face'thereof, said member being adapted at a second point thereof to beswingably connected to a stay, said second point being spaced from saidfirst point, said one face being relatively flat in the direction ofaline joining saidfirst point and said second point so as to provide aflat anchor portion; a tail connected to said member, said tailcomprising:

a flexible relatively long sheet material strip having a first end and asecond end, said strip having a predetermined length, said strip beingsplit from said first end to a firstintermediate point to form two tieportions, said tie portions extending through said first hole from saidone face to said another face and extending around the strip and holdingthe strip tight against said one face at said flat anchor portion,whereby said flat anchor portion influences the direction that said tailextends from said anchor member.

2. The indicator set forth in claim 1 wherein said tail includes:

a relatively rigid stiffener extending from said first intermediatepoint toward said second and and at least a portion of said stiffener isheld against said flat anchor portion.

3. Theindicator set forth in claim 1 including:

adhesive tape adherred to said strip from said first end to at leastsaid first intermediate'point, said tape having at least tworeinforcement strands which are spaced apart and extend generallyparallel to the length of the strip, said tape being split so that partof said tape is on each of said tie portions and one of saidreinforcement strands is on each tie portion. 4. The indicator set forthin claim 3 wherein: said tape extends from said first end substantiallybe-' yond said first intermediate pointtoward said second end of saidstrip. 5. ln an improved wind direction indicator swingably connected toa boat stay, which indicator has an anchor member swingably connected tothe boat stay at a second point on said anchor member, a tail connectedto said member at a first point which is spaced from said second point,said tail comprising: a

a flexible realtively long sheet material strip of predetermined lengthhaving a first end and a second end;

and stiffener means on said strip extending from a point intermediatesaid first and second end toward said first end, said stiffener meansengaging said anchor member, whereby said stiffener means causes saidtail to extend from said anchor member at a predetermined angledependent upon the engageanchor mem-

1. An improved wind direction indicator particularly adapted for a stayon a boat comprising: an anchor member, said anchor member having at afirst point thereon a hole extending therethrough from one face of themember to another face thereof, said member being adapted at a secondpoint thereof to be swingably connected to a stay, said second pointbeing spaced from said first point, said one face being relatively flatin the direction of a line joining said first point and said secondpoint so as to provide a flat anchor portion; a tail connected to saidmember, said tail comprising: a flexible relatively long sheet materialstrip having a first end and a second end, said strip having apredetermined length, said strip being split from said first end to afirst intermediate point to form two tie portions, said tie portionsextending through said first hole from said one face to said anotherface and extending around the strip and holding the strip tight againstsaid one face at said flat anchor portion, whereby said flat anchorportion influences the direction that said tail extends from said anchormember.
 2. The indicator set forth in claim 1 wherein said tailincludes: a relatively rigid stiffener extending from said firstintermediate point toward said second and and at least a portion of saidstiffener is held against said flat anchor portion.
 3. The indicator setforth in claim 1 including: adhesive tape adherred to said strip fromsaid first end to at least said first intermediate point, said tapehaving at least two reinforcement strands which are spaced apart andextend generally parallel to the length of the strip, said tape beingsplit so that part of said tape is on each of said tie portions and oneof said reinforcement strands is on each tie portion.
 4. The indicatorset forth in claim 3 wherein: said tape extends from said first endsubstantially beyond said first intermediate point toward said secondend of saiD strip.
 5. In an improved wind direction indicator swingablyconnected to a boat stay, which indicator has an anchor member swingablyconnected to the boat stay at a second point on said anchor member, atail connected to said member at a first point which is spaced from saidsecond point, said tail comprising: a flexible realtively long sheetmaterial strip of predetermined length having a first end and a secondend; and stiffener means on said strip extending from a pointintermediate said first and second end toward said first end, saidstiffener means engaging said anchor member, whereby said stiffenermeans causes said tail to extend from said anchor member at apredetermined angle dependent upon the engagement of said stiffenermeans with said anchor member.
 6. The indicator set forth in claim 5wherein said stiffener means comprises: a piece of adhesive tapeadherred to said strip.
 7. The indicator set forth in claim 6 whereinsaid stiffener means comprises: a piece of monofilament material heldagainst said strip by said tape.